Oxfordshire councillor calls out ‘woke virtue signalling’

Ben Woodruff represented Ducklington, Curbridge and Lew on West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) for 10 years but dramatically resigned on March 1.

Ainscough Strategic Land won its appeal to build 120 homes on Moors Field meadow in Ducklington and Mr Woodruff resigned with immediate effect after campaigning profusely against the development.

The application is not popular with the village’s residents and WODC’s planning committee unanimously rejected the application in March 2022.

READ MORE: West Oxfordshire councillor quits over planning appeal ruling

The developer won its appeal in February and Mr Woodruff has said WODC’s cabinet are to blame for failing to demonstrate a five year land supply due to their focus on “virtue signalling”.

He said: “It is the cabinet’s fault.

“We no longer have any control as a local authority because the local authority has let the five-year land supply slip.

“They are more interested in virtue signalling and waving flags outside buildings”.

Councils are required to show there is enough land dedicated within its local plan to cater for an adequate number of new homes over the next five years or more robust reasons must be given for refusal.

Mr Woodruff said the developer was successful because the Moors was not in the Local Plan as a development site and warned it was now likely “land developers will just go to appeal and win because of the lack of any five year land supply”.

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He explained it would be “hypocritical” if he had stayed in WODC as they were “not looking after residents interests”.

Former councillor Ben Woodruff (Image: Ben Woodruff)

Mr Woodruff said the developer won the appeal as the council was “too busy virtue signalling and  focused on vanity projects which don’t need to be done".

He added: “The council haven’t bothered to keep their housing land supply up to date.

“These people are so unbelievably woke that is all they care about.

“They just care about their image”.

The WODC also found Mr Woodruff guilty of breaking the councillor’s code of conduct after he posted replies to Tweets which were perceived in a standards meeting as transphobic.

Mr Woodruff explained: “I saw in an Oxford Mail article that Oxfordshire County Council had approved to make all toilets gender neutral and I replied ‘more madness’.

“This was described as transphobic.”

He added: “They deliberately scrolled through my social media and picked out replies which they found offensive”.

Residents have rallied around Mr Woodruff since his resignation and sent him around “seventy really kind messages”.

Mr Woodruff told the Oxford Mail urgent questions about the proposed 120 home development were rarely asked at council meetings and argued the WODC cabinet was “too busy posting videos of themselves doing mundane things which have no consequence for anyone”.

He explained: “There will now be more houses in unwanted areas when the people who live in these villages have clearly demonstrated they don’t want them.

“WODC needs to be dealing with the important business and getting on with the things that matter to people.

Mr Woodruff said he will now take time out of local politics "to focus on my own wellbeing and that of my family".

A council spokesperson said; “The Council refused the planning application for Moors Field in Ducklington as we did not think the site was suitable for development. The Planning Inspectorate overturned this decision in favour of the developer - which we clearly disagree with.

“Local Authorities are required to maintain a 5 year land supply for building land. However we can only grant planning permission where it has been applied for and the progress of developers on some of our larger sites has been very slow meaning that the number of homes expected to be built in the next few years is currently below target.

"We continue to work closely with those developers to speed up delivery and have also committed to reviewing our Local Plan to help identify a new housing target and ensure that new homes are built in the most appropriate, sustainable locations.

"We have challenged the number of homes required to be built in West Oxfordshire in the past but have been told by Government we must allow nearly 16,000 homes to be built in a 20 year period.

"We also look forward to expected changes to national planning policy which will adjust how the land supply affects local planning decisions and hopefully minimise the Planning Inspector overturning decisions not supported by the Local Plan or local residents.

“While still a councillor, Mr Woodruff was found to have breached the members code of conduct by a cross-party committee. The code of conduct requires elected members to maintain high standards of conduct while in office. The Council takes complaints against conduct seriously to maintain public confidence in councillors and in Local Government.

"This includes accusations that councillors have behaved in a way that is disrespectful to others and fails to promote equalities against a group or individuals as was found to be the case with Mr Woodruff.

“West Oxfordshire District Council fully supports equality for all people. We are proud to support and encourage diversity in our society and we believe we should be inclusive of all people regardless of gender, race, religion or any other characteristic. We will proudly continue to promote equality and diversity and firmly disagree with any views that promote hate or intolerance."